In facilities for research on cells, the dispensing process of extracting a proper amount of a cell culture solution containing a large amount of dispersed cell aggregates from a tube storing the cell culture solution and moving the cell culture solution to another dish is performed. For such a process, a dispensing tip configured to suck the cell culture solution from the tube and discharge the cell culture solution to another dish is used. In the dish, a process of sorting cell aggregates having a desired size from the cell culture solution containing cell aggregates of various sizes and impurities is performed, for example.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-34013 discloses the technique of sucking cell aggregate, which is a moving object, from a dispensing well by using a suction tip (a micropipette) and discharging the cell aggregate to a petri dish. Cell aggregates are held in liquid, and a tip end opening of the suction tip is dipped in the liquid during the above-described suction. Thus, there is a case where such a suction tip needs to be disposed after completion of a single process of suction and discharge.
It has been demanded for the process of moving an object to highly automate a series of operation including suction and discharge of the object by the dispensing tip. However, in a current situation, such automation has been only developed to such an extent that the dispensing tip is manually operated or that only the mechanism for generating suction force is additionally attached to the dispensing tip. For this reason, it cannot be said that the working efficiency of the movement process described above is favorable in the current situation.